The Journey of Plit
by Gandalf The Grey
Summary: The Mushroom Kingdom and its allies are still recovering from a brutal attack 6 years previously by the Koopa Troop. A ship designed to help in recovery soon becomes involved in the greatest adventure in Plit's entire history.
1. Chapter I: The Visitors

Part I: A New Beginning

Chapter I: The Visitors

Author's notes: Hello everyone. Before you begin reading, I would like to note that:

This story takes place a few decades after the Mario Bros. games. What has happened between then and now will be explained as the story progresses.

The main story, with the ship and the adventure, etc. won't begin for a few chapters. For now I just want to develop characters and storylines that will come eventually and explain what has happened in the past few years in the Mushroom Kingdom.

As usual, I don't own the Mario Bros. Koopas, Yoshis, etc. However, many of the characters in this story are of my own creation.

Please R&R! Thank you, and I hope you enjoy.

Mario was slumped over in his chair, quietly observing the twinkling stars outside of his newly constructed house just outside the borders of the Mushroom Kingdom. The new spring air was quietly blowing through his window, causing his red M hat to fall off of the nearby hook. He got up to go and close the window and noticed a few of the bushes rustle on the other side of the pathway outside of his house. A second later he saw what appeared to be a shell-like creature fall from the top of the trees near those same bushes. He closed the window finally and sat back down, placing his red cap upon his head. Mario took out a couple of torches, suspecting that the ambush that had been planned for him tonight was finally coming into play. Just as he began to light one torch, he heard a subtle yet audible crack of a twig from behind his house. He got off of his chair again and chose to crouch down, knowing that there was something out there sneaking up on him. He crawled across his wooden floor, careful not to cause any creaking, which was hard. The window at the back of his house was closed, but not locked, so he suspected that the intruder, or intruders as was the more likely case, might try to get in through there.

Mario stopped silent for a second as he heard something scratching on top of his roof. He knew then that there were multiple people outside. Mario decided to hide under his table near to the right of his main hallway, which gave him a view of nearly all of the windows and doors in his house, yet also provided a good hiding place. That moment his front doorknob slowly began to turn and the door was slowly and carefully swung open. Nothing came in immediately, but after about ten seconds a large yellow hand showed itself into the room.

Mario carefully controlled a ball of fire in his hand, and after it built up shot it directly at the yellow hand. As the person that Mario had hit fell back in pain, the back window opened and another figure jumped into his house. Mario had only a second to build up and shoot another fireball at the figure. Luckily for him, it was enough to knock the figure down, and he remained there. Mario decided that it was the best idea, now that the door was open, to leave his house and hide out in the woods where he wouldn't draw as much attention to himself. Just as he got outside, another dark figure, possibly the one who had attempted to enter his front door a few seconds ago, jumped out at him. Mario managed to punch him in the stomach, and when the figure fell down, he ran into the brush. He stopped shortly after he entered the bushes and glanced back at his small red house.

He couldn't see anything moving. The figure that he had punched was still lying down, and his front door was still open. There was nothing as far as he could tell on top of his roof. He looked up to the sky to see the moon of Plit shining quite faintly behind a mass of clouds. He began to run across the dirt pathway and made his way relatively deep into the woods and hid himself behind a large oak tree.

Mario looked up to the tree to check if anyone was up there. Nothing, he thought.

"Is it really possible that they might be planning an ambush for me out here?" Mario quietly whispered to himself.

At that very moment someone had put a knife right to Mario's throat, and two other figures came out of the bushes. Mario knew that there was no way out.

"Don't move Mario. You will hereby surrender to us." The voice sounded all too familiar to him.

"I guess I have little choice," Mario responded.

"Very little," the voice replied.

"Then I surrender," Mario said at last. "It appears that I have been defeated."

With that the figure took away his knife and placed it down on the ground.

"Well it's about time," Mario commented. "If you had kept that knife at my throat any longer I might've thought you were actually a Koopa."

"I'm just happy we were finally able to defeat you, on our last training simulation before our mission next month." His younger brother Luigi finally stepped out into the moonlight that had now appeared from under the clouds.

"I like the costume," Mario said, noticing his brother's Koopa shell and yellow hands.

I'm glad there was enough padding this time," Luigi replied, showing his fake Koopa hand that had been singed by Mario's fireball.

"Yeah, that last time wasn't so nice to you. I assume that the other guy I fired at is okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine," said a medium sized Mushroomer who was coming into the forest.

"I liked how you fell back like that, it seemed quite realistic," Mario said to the Mushroomer.

"I'm just doing my job, as the old saying goes…" the Mushroomer replied. "Luckily for me this suit is as thick as ever. I noticed that that you were leaving the house by the way. I figured that Gyfun, who was on the roof, might be able to get you, but deep down I knew that Luigi would capture you in the end."

"I guess my old age has finally gotten to me," Mario said, showing a very small tone of disappointment.

"Old age!" Luigi yelled suddenly. "My dear brother, has that Goomba ale gotten to you? You seem just as energetic and cunning as you were when we defeated Bowser all those years ago!"

"Hey, I wasn't being serious!" Mario said, not being entirely true. "Besides, this is only the second time you've beaten me out of how many times?"

Luigi looked somewhat off put, but then smiled. "Never mind," he said. The brothers and the three Mushrooms there had a good laugh at Luigi's comment. Shortly afterwards, the moon began to fall behind the clouds.

"Getting chilly out," said one of the Mushroomers there. "I think this is probably the latest we've ever gone."

"More than likely…" Luigi replied.

"Well, I'll give my report to Toad tomorrow morning. The Chancellor will likely send out reports to you sometime this week. I'm heading home, have a good night everyone!" The Mushroomer yelled back to them as he began to walkback tothe Mushroom Kingdom.

"Goodnight Gyfun!" Mario, Luigi and the other two Mushroomers yelled in unison.

"I think we're heading off too," the Mushroom that Mario had hit said, and with that, he and the other remaining Mushroomer headed off back towards the pathway that led to the Mushroom Kingdom, leaving only Mario and Luigi in the forest.

"It _is_ getting cold, do you want to come in for a bite to eat?" Mario asked. "I could even make a pot of spaghetti for us." He chuckled to himself.

Luigi smiled at the idea. "I had better get back to my own house. You know how busy I've been these past few weeks, and its certainly not going to let up in the next month. Thanks anyway though."

"That's okay, I know that you need your sleep, heaven knows I do too. Better get on your way then."

"Sure, we'll talk tomorrow." Luigi then took off his Koopa costume completely. "Would you mind keeping this at your house tonight? I really don't wanna have to lug it all the way home. Wearing it at all isn't exactly my cup of tea."

"Sure, no problem. I'm not looking forward to having a Koopa in my house though." Luigi laughed slightly at the comment.

"Okay, I'll talk to you tomorrow. Good luck getting home!" Mario yelled to Luigi, who was now making his way out into the dense fog.

"Bye for now!" Luigi yelled, as he walked out along the pathway. Mario took the Koopa costume that Luigi had just handed him back to his house,but not before looking out at the horizon as his brother gradually disappeared down the long pathway towards the Mushroom Kingdom.

Mario walked into his still open front door, and closed it to prevent any heat from escaping. The wind was still blowing in from the back window that the one Mushroom had forgotten to close. Mario closed it and locked it once again. He put back the two torches that he hadn't had the chance to use, and sat down again on his chair, taking out one of his favourite novels, and began reading. After about a minute he found he couldn't concentrate on the book.

"I really had a good feeling about tonight," he said to himself. "Maybe I'm really _not_ the same person I was a couple of decades ago." He tried to put that out of his mind, and then laughed at the thought of an actual Koopa ambush occurring these days.

He got up to place the Koopa costume into one of his dressers, and looked at the model ship at the head of his bed.

"Just a month away," he commented, not sure if he was truly ready yet.


	2. Chapter II: Sabotage

Part I: A New Beginning

Chapter II: Sabotage

Labarus was beginning to get cold. He checked his watch and noticed it was ten minutes past midnight, and as far as he could tell there was no one else in sight. With the exception of the one hundred other Sarasalandian guards of course, who were assigned to guard the massive ship that was due to set off from this land in under a month from now.

Labarus looked around to see there were no other guards on this part of the deck, though it was hard to tell considering the massive amount of fog that was quickly building up around him. The massive ship in front of him, or at least the very small part of it that he could see, almost looked like one of those haunted ships that he had heard of in ghost stories when he was a child.

As far as Labarus knew, the ship was still unnamed. The Chancellor of the Mushroom Kingdom had given the choice of a name to Mario and Luigi, the "great heroes of the Mushroom people" as he called them.

"Where the hell are they?" Labarus whispered to himself. He was beginning to get tense. This was probably the only night that they could possibly hope to sneak in to plant something on the massive ship, and his shift ended at 1:00AM.

A part of him hoped that they wouldn't show up, he was only working to sabotage the voyage that would take the greatest heroes and warriors of the United Plit out to new worlds because of his intense hatred for the Goombas, whom he had hated ever since they attacked his village as part of the Koopa Troop's invasion six years ago. He had disagreed strongly with Sarasaland and the Mushroom Kingdom on their decision to allow the Goombas into the United Plit two years ago. He thought that it was insane to allow a race of creatures that only a few years ago had attempted to help destroy us suddenly be allowed to become our allies. Many Goombas would be among the crew of hundreds that would be on this ship that now sat in front of him, and he couldn't allow that. His hated of the Goombas really began when they raided his peaceful village in western Sarasaland six years ago, which had killed his mother, father, and his only sibling, his sister Adia.

Despite his hatred, or intense dislike as was the more accurate term, he wasn't sure he wanted to go through with it anymore. The problem of course was, if he bailed out, he would likely be hunted down. The government of Sarasaland was still weak and likely wouldn't be able to protect him for very long, especially from the group that he had gotten himself involved in. On the other hand, The Mushroom Kingdom, and possibly Sarasaland as well, would collapse if this ship was destroyed.

He looked up at the ship again. It represented a symbol of hope for the Mushroom Kingdom, Sarasaland, the Mushroom World, Nimbus Land, and many other places across the continent of Plit. It represented the hope that there was other life in the unexplored regions of Plit, where there might be a civilization that could help them in their recovery from the devastating attack that had nearly destroyed them six years ago.

"What am I doing?" He suddenly asked himself, upset at himself for his own treason. "This ship is our key to recovery. I'm supposed to be helping prevent a catastrophe, not cause one. I can't go through with this."

He couldn't understand it, how had he been so easily persuaded? Not too long ago he was looking forward to seeing the ship sail away, bringing back someone who could help the great Sarasaland, then just a few weeks ago, he became involved in a sabotage attempt…

He knew anyway that he had to warn his superior of the attempted sabotage that was supposed to occur tonight. He began to run across the wide wooden platform, looking for a fellow guard to tell him where his superior, Nym, was.

He took a look at his watch, which now read 12:24. He stopped after running for a while, for he was terribly out of shape.

No guard in sight still, he thought. This was not a good sign. He stood on that spot for a while, looking around at all around him. To his left, the great open waters of the Sarasa Sea, to his right, the massive ship that still had a while to go before he got to its end, and in front and behind him, the incredibly long platform that spread the length of the ship.

After he ran a few metres longer he finally thought he could see a fellow guard walking around, about twenty-five metres ahead of him. He ran quickly, hoping he could find out where his superior Nym was, or could at least let another guard know of the attempted sabotage.

"Hey!" Labarus yelled, coming closer to what he could now see was definitely a Mushroomer. "There's going to be a sabotage on the ship tonight! We have to find where all the bombers are!" He slowed down a bit, but then noticed a dead Mushroomer lying two feet away from the guard, a large puddle of blood lying right beside his head.

"What the hell happened?" Labarus asked his fellow guard. Then suddenly he looked at the dead Mushroomer, noticing that his head was a light shade of green. This was the same light shade of green that he had noticed about the guard who he had talked to just two days ago. Labarus looked at the Mushroomer he thought was the guard, and spotted the black Mushroom head associated with the terrorist organization he was planning to aid tonight.

The imposter suddenly turned around, revealing a heavily scarred and ugly face, but nonetheless the face of the same Mushroomer he was supposed to meet.

"Good evening Labarus. So nice to see you tonight."


	3. Chapter III: Reunion

Part I: A New Beginning

Chapter III: Reunion

Mallow was having it tough these past few days. He had learned that some key files had been misplaced, and because of this Nimbus Land was in a state of disarray. Not only because of this, but in addition, their king was due to set off on the "Bringer of Miracles" in just a month.

"The Bringer of Miracles," or "the Miracle" as it was called for short, is what the Nimbians called the great ship that has been built by the Mushroom Kingdom and Sarasaland. The reason that they called it this is because that is what they hoped would happen, that the ship would bring back a civilization or species that could help the continent of Plit recover from their state of war with the Koopa Troop.

For that is what the ship was built for. It was a great vessel designed to find another civilization or country help Plit recover from the war. Not only for that reason, but to make contact with other beings, find new worlds on the great planet that has been largely unexplored by anyone on Plit, (or at least any that have returned) and act as a way to gain allies throughout the planet.

Being the most affected land by the Koopa Troop's attack (other than the Mushroom Kingdom), they had waited for two years, ever since the Koopa Troop had been defeated and their rule over Plit overthrown, for the ship to sail off. To their knowledge this was only the third ship in the entire history of Plit to set out into "lands unknown." They were unsure however of King Mallow Nimbus' decision to join the crew of the "Miracle".

The stress of everything he had to do was finally getting to Mallow. Helping the entire country of Nimbus Land rebuild from four years of brutal dictatorship and consistent attacks was quite a handful, to put it mildly, but preparing for the what was possibly the single greatest event since the arrival of the Mario Brothers decades ago was causing his head to hurt.

First of all, he was gathering together and organizing the fellow Nimbians who were joining him on the crew of the "Miracle". In addition to that, as king, he still had to keep rule and order over his citizen. Perhaps his most difficult chore was to find a replacement to lead Nimbus Land while he was absent. He wanted to make sure that he chose the perfect person, his experience with Valentina all those years ago still made him shudder. Or shake his head, or laugh out loud. It all depended on his mood, or the day, but those two seemed to go hand in hand with him.

Either way he was having a lot of trouble choosing someone. If he found the smallest little thing that he didn't like about the person he was choosing, that he thought might upset the people of Nimbus Land he chose to send them off. He knew that some of his advisors thought him to be picky, and maybe a little loopy, but he couldn't live peacefully on the Miracle if he thought that his citizens might be having problems. He cared for them too much.

Mallow lay back on his bed, adjusting his robes and slicking back his short pink hair. He still felt strange about lying in the bed that his deceased parents used to share, and wearing the robe that his father used to wear. He was looking forward to sailing out on the "Miracle," and being able to get away from all the stress of running an entire country. He would definitely miss his homeland, but being able to be part of the Mario Brothers' crew was an honour in itself, not to mention the fact that this was only the third ship to sail out from the continent of Plit, and the first in centuries. Hopefully this one wouldn't end up like the other two.

"King Nimbus sir… " Mallow's secretary Gabbo Jr. opened his bedroom door and called into it. "A visitor here to see you sir."

"Thank you Gabbo. I will be out in a moment." The Nimbian secretary quietly shut the door, leaving Mallow alone, still lying on his massive "king size" bed.

He finally got up, adjusted his robe and placed his father's former crown on top of his head. He left the enormous white, puffy room to meet a familiar face.

"Princess!" Mallow yelled, absolutely ecstatic. He had not seen Princess Peach Toadstool for over a year, but there she stood by his secretary's desk, wearing her usual pink dress and beautiful golden crown. He then looked around the room to see Gabbo Jr. and two Nimbian guards, and decided to compose himself. He didn't want to show weakness in front of his citizens.

"Hello Mallow, or King Nimbus as I should rightly call you." Peach said, slightly embarrassed.

"What brought you out here so early? I didn't expect to see you until a few days before the ceremony."

"Mind if we discuss it in private?" Princess Toadstool asked, almost whispering.

"Of course," Mallow replied politely. "We can discuss it in my bedroom if you like."

D'oh, he thought to himself, what kind of person would say that? I sound like a pervert. I hope I haven't upset the princess.

"Fine with me," Peach replied, seeming not to notice.

"Perhaps the Conference Room would be more appropriate," Mallow said. "We finally have it completely rebuilt."

"Okay," Peach said, seeming just a little off put.

"Guards," King Mallow spoke. "Lead us to the Conference Room."

"Yes sir," the two guards in the room said in unison. They lead the way down a hallway towards the northern region of the building. Mallow and Peach followed.

"This must be quite an important message to have a person such as yourself come all this way," Mallow said quietly to Peach.

"It is very concerning," Peach responded, not wanting to hint at what the problem was until they were alone.

They continued to walk through the beautifully detailed white hallways of the castle, with rich red tapestries hanging on the walls and golden chandeliers hanging down from the light blue ceiling. Every once and a while they would pass a room or hallway that was still being reconstructed or rebuilt.

When they finally reached the great white doors that led into the Conference Room the two guards who were walking in front of them stood at attention, facing each other, and leaving a big enough space between then for Mallow and Peach to get through. The Nimbian guard on the right opened one of the doors for them.

"No one can walk past these doors until we leave," Mallow ordered the guard, who nodded.

As the King and Princess walked through the doors the guard shut it behind them.

"Come and sit down," Mallow offered to Peach, pulling out a chair from the long conference table.

"No thank you," she said. Mallow then decided to sit on the chair himself.

The Princess continued to walk around the room, looking at all of the lovely portraits that were hung on the walls of the room.

"Do you remember the plot to assassinate the Mushroom Kingdom Chancellor?" Peach asked.

"How could I forget?" Mallow replied. "Those radical Black Mushrooms nearly did it too. Thank the stars that you, Rubosov, and the Mario Brothers were able to stop them. Are they back?"

"Not exactly. Ever since we were able to kill their two leaders they have been heavily crippled. The plan to kill our Chancellor was sort of their last gasp to cause turmoil in the Mushroom Kingdom."

"What has you so worried then?

"An entire Goomba village just off of our borders was attacked a few nights ago, leaving thirteen dead."

"My heavens, they certainly have come back with a bang."

"Even more alarming however, and the real reason I came to see you, is that there was a threatening letter addressed to you personally that came to us just before the attack."

"Wow!" Mallow said, slightly stunned. "I don't understand though, why on Plit would they have sent the letter to the Mushroom Kingdom? Did you bring it with you?"

"That brings me to why I came here personally instead of sending a helper or ambassador. Shortly after the letter came, two Mushroomer generals ordered it to be destroyed, apparently under orders from the Chancellor. In addition to this, some of my advisors and secretaries have told me that some generals have told them that I had sent orders to them, but I never did. The orders we're quite odd too, most of them had to do with the ship that you and the Mario Brothers are going on."

Peach paused for a sec, almost trying to remember all the strange things that have been occurring.

"There have also been many other suspicious events going on. For example, I found some plans of the ship arranged differently and moved around in the desk in my room. Later on, I found my door open when I was going to bed early. I hid behind a pillar at the bottom of the stairs, and after about a minute of waiting there I saw a Colonel of our army leave. Again I found my files on the ship out of order. I went to inform the Chancellor of the Colonel's spying, and of course he was arrested.

"The next few days after that my files were fine, and believe me I've checked many times, but the strange orders that were supposedly sent by me continued. I asked whom they were sent from, but I could never get a straight answer. Four days ago, the same day we got the letter and the Goomba village was attacked, my secretary told me that a Colonel Green had told her I had left for a meeting in Sarasaland. I checked my files and found out that this was the same Colonel that had been arrested a few days ago for sneaking into my room. I asked if she had spoken to him face-to-face,, and she said 'yes, just outside of the castle.' I went to tell the Chancellor, but he said that Green was still in prison. I decided to dismiss it, but once I heard the order to destroy the note sent to you, I knew I had to warn you myself, because I could tell something was rotten in the Mushroom Kingdom.

"I managed to convince the Chancellor that I needed to contact you personally about the voyage in a few weeks from now. I left four days ago on the Royal Bus, and now I'm here."

"So you suspect that some in your government had something to do with the attack on your village?" Mallow asked.

"It's a possibility. I'm not even sure if I can trust the Chancellor, which is hard of course because I've known him for so long, and he's been such a good person."

"Of course," Mallow said sympathetically.

"He's just been acting strangely lately, like many around the Mushroom Kingdom have." Peach said, as she started to cry a bit.

"It's okay." Mallow said.

Peach managed to pull herself together, and said, "I suppose I should be heading back, or else the Mushroom Kingdom may become suspicious of me."

"Well, I greatly appreciate you coming here. As you said, there was a definite possibility that if you had sent someone else, they may not have arrived."

"Whoever's behind this conspiracy, if there is one, I knew that they would think I was too important to get right of."

"That's for sure." Mallow smiled encouragingly.

"Sorry we had to see each other again at such a bad time," Peach said.

"Think nothing of it, Mallow replied. He got off of his seat and opened Conference Room doors for Peach.

"My guards will show you to the Royal Bus. If problems continue for you can be sure that I will come personally to see what's wrong."

"Thank you," Peach replied. "Goodbye."

One of the guards shut the door to the Conference Room. Mallow sat back down again, taking off his crown. His life had likely just got a lot more complicated.


	4. Chapter IV: The Other Brother

Part I: A New Beginning

Chapter IV: The Other Brother

"You know what? I really like the name 'The Miracle.' It seems to fit with what it represents, plus it sounds good."

"Really? I find it a little tacky. I mean, can you picture Mario saying: 'This is The Miracle, prepare to surrender'?"

"Oh come on. You and I both know this isn't a ship of combat. It's a ship of exploration and peace. Give the name a chance."

"I just think it sounds a little cheesy. I mean, I know that these past few years have not been easy for Plit, and that the Nimbians really struggled for four years even more than we did, but doesn't 'The Miracle' seem a little bit overly hopeful to you? I mean there's no guarantee that you guys are going to find any life out there. I hate to say it but this planet could just be a barren wasteland and we're the only life on it. We haven't heard from the Koopas for almost two years either, and even though we never confirmed it I'm pretty sure that they couldn't even pose a threat to a pair of Wigglers. We crippled them, so we don't need protection from the Koopas either."

"Are you saying you think this whole mission was a mistake?"

"I'm not saying that. On the contrary I think it's quite a good idea, and exciting too, but I think that too many people, the Mushroom Kingdom included, are getting a little too excited. They'll be let down if you come back with no one from the outside world to help us rebuild. And in my opinion, that is a very likely scenario."

"Well, I know that we'll rebuild from the Koopa Troop's tyranny eventually, but having someone to help us and provide workers and resources would be wonderful. It is definitely worth a try. You honestly don't think that there's any other life on Plit? You know what the probabilities are of that? Consider the information we have obtained in the last decade I find that extremely hard to believe."

"Perhaps you're right."

"Anyway, let's just forget about it for now. I already have to deal with this damn ship enough." Luigi smiled, showing that he was only half serious about his tiredness.

"I know," Rose replied. She took a moment to look out of the window in front of her to look out at the vast lands of the Mushroom Kingdom.

Luigi joined her. "Incredible, isn't it? When my brother and I first came to this wondrous land it was almost like stepping into a dream. I couldn't believe it at first. One minute I was working on fixing a pipe, and the next minute I was standing next to some guy with a Mushroom for a head. I still remember Mario saying 'you didn't put any drugs in the punch did you?'" He and Rose both laughed.

"I didn't want to stay here at all at first. Yeah, that's right. When Mario and I agreed to help exile Bowser and the Koopa Troop from the Mushroom Kingdom we planned to go back to Earth immediately. A lot of people forget that."

"Oh, stop being so hard on yourself," Rose said.

"Well, it's true. I won't speak for my brother, but I really wanted to go back to Earth. I honestly didn't like it here at all. It was too different, and one of the great human weaknesses is being afraid of anything different. Plus Earth was where we were born, or at least I thought so at the time. I wanted to go back desperately, but once I saw the wonderful people and lands of this planet, I knew that I had to help protect it from any threat possible. Once I did I realized that I wasn't really leaving much back on Earth anyway." Luigi paused for a second, almost reliving something from around that time.

"All I really had was a crappy plumbing job, no family, and little friends. The only person I really had was my brother. Once I had made friends here, I was convinced that I had to stay. Am I ever glad that I did." He smiled, and kissed his wife of only three months. They had met while both of them were vacationing in Seaside Town, which is far southwest of The Mushroom Kingdom.

The room they were now in had only a few pictures of the two of them together. Both had lost their previous spouses in the Koopa War. The wooden walls that now stood where great stone walls once did reminded them of the cost of that war.

Once she and Luigi had stopped kissing, Rose spoke. "When I first moved here from Sarasaland I thought I was starting a new era of my life. Little did I know that my dream would come all too true. I still remember seeing an entire quarter of the Mushroom Kingdom go up in flames before my eyes on only my second day living here. As you know, the next few years for me were never the same. They weren't the same for anyone."

Luigi knew he had to get to the Mushroom Castle soon for his meeting with The Chancellor. Rose seemed to read his mind.

"Don't you have to be heading off soon?"

"Yes, I should probably leave now just in case. These times are crucial, as you know. If anything goes wrong with this project the hope of the entire continent will be crushed. Plus if I miss this meeting the Chancellor will have my head."

"Yeah, a lot of pressure is on him as well," Rose said. "Not as much as the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom though."

"Thanks," Luigi responded. "I should be back in about three hours. Chow." He left out of the door of one of the many Mushroom Kingdom houses that were just to the East of the capital of the great land. Being Luigi, one of the biggest heroes of Plit, he also got one of the biggest houses.

Although he lived relatively close to the castle compared to some others, it still took him about ten minutes to get to the Mushroom Kingdom Castle.

After shutting the door of his house and putting on his green coat he left onto the stone pathway of his village. After a few twists and turns around a few houses and pathways Luigi reached the main pathway that led to the Mushroom Kingdom capital. He stopped off at a local store to pick up some supplies including quite a few Honey Syrups.

He noticed that the fog of the previous night was beginning to clear off, but dark clouds were now taking their place. Sure enough, about a minute later it began to pour down heavy rain over the Mushroom Kingdom. Luigi wondered if King Nimbus was in the area. He laughed to himself at the thought of seeing his old friend, who he would see in under a month.

After being getting about halfway to the Mushroom Kingdom he noticed a large figure moving across the pathway diagonally in front of him.

Luigi checked his watch and noticed he still had plenty of time before his meeting with the Chancellor. He went to look to see what the large animal was. As he broke off with the pathway he saw it again just in front of him. He thought it looked familiar, but couldn't quite put his finger on it. As he splashed through the many puddles that were in the mud and grass he was standing upon, he spotted the eyes of the creature just ahead of him. He nearly fell over in shock.

"No, it can't be."

As the creature walked up closer to him Luigi recognized what he thought must have been a trick being played by his mind. The yellow flaming eyes of the figure in front of him gazed right into his, almost sucking the life out of him. Luigi saw many other smaller creatures looking similar to the larger creature come into view. That moment he finally admitted the truth to himself.

He was staring right into the eyes of King Bowser Koopa.


End file.
